X-ray imaging

X-ray imaging utilises the ability of high frequency electromagnetic waves to pass through soft parts of the human body largely unimpeded.

For medical applications, x-rays are usually generated in vacuum tubes by bombarding a metal target with high-speed electrons and images produced by passing the resulting radiation through the patient’s body on to a photographic plate or digital recorder to produce a radiograph, or by rotating both source and detector around the patient’s body to produce a “slice” image by computerised tomography (CT).

Although CT scans expose the patient to higher doses of ionising radiation the slice images produced make it possible to see the structures of the body in 3D.